Albania Mission AgainstHuman Trafficking

MARY WARD LORETO is planting hope with a human rights approach to combating modern day slavery. This challenging mission is implemented through works of justice, education, grass roots action and systemic change. The aim is to eradicate poverty, the prime cause for human trafficking.

Hard life of a woman in Tropojë

She had never thought that her life would be like this. She lived in a village with her family. At age 33, her family arranged a marriage in another village. She faced an even more painful reality which he left behind, not only extreme poverty, but also the suffering of physical and psychological violence. Today, at 46 years, she continues to coexist with the father of her children. The family’s only source of income is economic aid, and that is wasted on alcohol and gambling. She works the land, caring for livestock and cultivating various crops to feed the children, facing each day her husband’s alcoholism. She suffers from migraine headaches and a disc hernia that has not been treated but which has made her life more difficult. Their house is a ruin that might collapse at any moment. She came to the MWL center asking for support to live in dignity.